When a professional football player works with at-risk youth around the area, it's a safe bet many of the participants will want to know if the player knows New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees.

Susan Poag/The Times-PicayuneMarlon Favorite has been volunteering as a mentor at Cafe Hope in Marrero.

As it happens, New England Patriots defensive lineman and former LSU standout Marlon Favorite does know Brees -- Favorite did a stint with the Saints' practice squad in 2010.

But that's not why Favorite is a star at Café Hope in Marrero, a project to help at-risk young adults. Instead, Favorite says his best asset thus far has been his journeyman NFL career and not his passing familiarity with the game's glitterati. When dealing with 17- to 20-year-old products of West Bank poverty, Favorite says being genuine matters more than being famous.

In other words, Favorite doesn't tell the participants learning restaurant skills what it's like to hear the roar of 92,000 in Tiger Stadium, or how he's already crisscrossed the United States more than once at the age of 24. Instead, he unabashedly stresses his short profile available on the Patriots' website.

"Marlon Favorite was signed to the Patriots' practice squad on January 4, 2011, " it begins promisingly before unspooling a brutal chronology for an aspiring NFL player. Originally signed by Carolina as a free agent in 2009, Favorite has since been signed and waived by St. Louis, Kansas City, Seattle, Buffalo, Indianapolis and the Saints, who brought him on board in January 2010 as they set their sights firmly toward Super Bowl XLIV.

"I do use my football experience -- being cut seven times isn't easy, " Favorite said while tucking into a blackened shrimp quesadilla with green chili sour cream prepared and served by Café Hope participants. "But I never gave up. And that's the same message I want to send to the youth in this program. I keep it real with them; I tell them, 'it's not easy doing what I do, and I know it's not easy for you growing up here.' I know this area of New Orleans and how hard it is."

For many if not most of those selected for Café Hope, run by the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and housed in the church's cluster of Spanish colonial buildings on Barataria Boulevard, there may not be seven cuts left. Some of them are essentially homeless, some have records dotted with minor crimes, and all of them are teetering on the edge of adulthood when second or third chances begin to peter out.

The program's framework is similar to that of Café Reconcile in New Orleans, although Café Hope has a more ambitious menu, such as Favorite's lunch or items like, "Opelousas Sweet Yam and Cajun Andouille Soup, " or "Pecan Crusted Catfish, Praline Meuniere, " attest. Café Hope has been serving such offerings -- all priced at $10 or less -- for lunch Monday through Friday for more than a year.

Unsurprisingly, given such tasty fare, the program has grown chiefly by word of mouth. There are six participants at a time in the 12-week program that includes mentoring sessions with local business people in addition to kitchen and floor work in the cafe. Thus far, graduates have landed work in kitchens ranging from Sonic to the Ritz-Carlton, and director Stewart Young is now in the regrettable position of turning applicants down: less than half of those seeking entry to the current class were admitted.

Young comes to Marrero by way of South Central Los Angeles and hails from Belfast, Northern Ireland, a place that once had "trouble" affixed to its name with a capital "T." So he knows something about violence, drugs and the long, depressing litany of enemies those hoping to lift people out of poverty must combat. But, because his athletic background was confined to rugby, he didn't know who Favorite was.

Young said he came under Favorite's spell as quickly as the participants, won over by the sunny equilibrium Favorite exudes. Not to mention common sense: when Young once told Favorite he could have a future in rugby if football doesn't pan out, Favorite demurred, saying he knew the difference between brutal and insane.

"They've been taught how not to interact, " Young said of many participants upon arrival. "So we just have to keep throwing as many good role models their way as we can so they can learn that by watching. That positive belief -- he's just such a great guy to have around these kids."

Young also embraced the attributes Favorite brought beyond the walls of the old Spanish mission -- who better to send out to corral a wayward student on the West Bank than a 6-foot-1, 317-pound local celebrity?

Favorite insisted he is an unlikely cop, but he conceded all Café Hope administrators and mentors must walk a high wire between affection and discipline with participants. Young said one key to success with at-risk youths is making it clear the support being offered isn't temporary; that the resources and personal interest won't vanish after graduation if a participant stumbles. In fact, short-term help can be counterproductive, Young said, as it reinforces abandonment issues.

For his part, Favorite said he avoids an overly martial approach of the sort familiar to football players.

"I remember when I first got to LSU and the coaches would be like, 'that's Marcus Spears -- don't even look at him, don't even think you deserve to drill with him, '" Favorite said, laughing at the memory. "I'm not like that here."

On the other hand, many of the participants, especially early in the program, are adroit at dodging the issue, or offer quick, insincere affirmation to any suggestion. That requires a firmer hand, but again Favorite says the best approach is the straightest one: when he hears a newcomer's flippant promise, Favorite crinkles up his face and advises the participant to look him in the eye and try again.

Favorite said football taught him how to turn the switch from controlled violence to what he called his "more teddy-bear" persona, and it's a lesson he imparts around Café Hope: One is work, the other personal.

"I remember when I was with the Colts (defensive line) Coach (John) Teerlinck said one day, 'Favorite, do you know how to spell 'sacks?'" Favorite said. "And I walked up to the board and wrote, 's-a-c-k-s.'"

"Wrong!" Teerlinck barked. "Sit down! Dwight Freeney, would you care to show Mr. Favorite how to spell 'sacks?'"

Freeney walked to the board, picked up the chalk, and wrote "$."

Such a stripped-down approach isn't confined to Favorite's or Young's philosophy. Participants confirmed that roundabout or fancier openings will receive roundabout and fancy responses. For example, Paul Peterson Jr., 22, is a member of Café Hope's first graduating class and he recently returned after a stint as a security guard to use the program's computers and other job-hunting resources.

His unlikely mentor? Jan White, a 52-year-old paralegal with the Avondale Shipyard.

"It turned out to be a life-changing experience between me and my mentor, " Peterson said. "When I first met her we sat on the back porch behind the Café. I was like, 'first of all, just be real with me, 100 percent. If you be 100 percent with me I'm not going to lie to you, I'm going to tell you everything, I'm going to tell you, 'I might need help with this.' We just bonded from there. We still talk to this day."

It's hardly surprising Favorite wound up chin deep in good work on the West Bank -- or, for that matter, at Café Hope. Unlike many of the participants, he grew up in a stable environment steeped in what all agree is perhaps the key barometer of success, parental involvement, and his father, Melkile, is on Café Hope's board of directors.

Favorite recalls that one day at Shaw High School he was stunned to walk out of class and encounter his mother in the hallway. She had gotten a call from a teacher telling her Favorite had been offering something less than 100 percent in class. Mary Favorite promptly put down the phone and stormed over to Shaw where she confronted her son and thrust a broom into his hands.

"I was like, 'what's this for?'" Favorite recalled. "And she said, 'well, if you're going to goof off in class then you'd better start getting handy with this, because that's what you'll be using the rest of your life.'"

Clearly, Favorite took such advice and his gifts seriously. But at the moment he, like other NFL players, finds himself in something of a holding pattern because of the league's labor dispute and the lockout it has engendered. On the plus side, Favorite said, is the fact he has had more time to volunteer at Café Hope, but he has not eschewed football training: he works out regularly at the Duke Academy in Kenner where he joins former Tigers teammate and Chicago Bears safety Craig Steltz.

Often, they are joined there by Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins. On such days, Favorite said he and Steltz politely offer Jenkins an opportunity to swap warm memories of the LSU vs. Ohio State BCS national championship game in 2008. Jenkins invariably rejects the overture in crisp terms and, the competitive fire now lit, the workouts are on.

"We're starting to get hot down here so I'm actually training a lot better, " Favorite said. "I think I'm going to go back to training camp on point."

And, in the meantime, he brings the same competitive approach to Café Hope.

"I'm home, helping out in the community, doing some things, " he said. "I know things aren't going to be easy. People always ask me, 'Well, these are a bunch of kids that are hard to reach.' And I always say to myself, 'as long as I reach just one I did my job.' I think if you start with just one, that one will branch off to many."

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James Varney can be reached at jvarney@timespicayune.com or 504.717.1156.